Always
by xMorbidxAngelx
Summary: The story of a love that could've been.


_**For aught that I could ever read, **_

_**Could ever hear by tale or history, **_

_**The course of true love never did run smooth.**_

**William Shakespeare**

**His heart ached. It ached badly. He felt like he had a wound that refused to heal. There was no cure; it was no illness that any doctor or medic could cure… save one. Only one could heal the wound that bled day and night. The wound that bled a tumultuous stream of emotions he couldn't understand. Emotions he didn't try to decipher for he knew it would only make his pain worse. **

**It had been several months since Sakura Haruno had left Konoha to work as a medic in Suna at the request of the Kazekage, Gaara. It had been a hard decision for her to make. She knew it was her duty to aid the Kazekage, but didn't want to leave behind her life in Konoha. Now, she lived there permanently until Gaara was satisfied with the results of her influence on the medical staff in the hospitals in Suna. Her friends in Konoha heard little from her save the occasional letter which was sent with a messenger or with one of Gaara's siblings when they travelled in the direction of Konoha.**

**One rainy afternoon, Kakashi Hatake sat in his living room gazing out the large windows of his second floor apartment at the pouring rain in the fading light. He watched as the rain lashed down onto the pavements and buildings relentlessly and as the lightning would occasionally light up darkened streets and buildings in an eerie fashion. Streams of water ran down the slightly inclined streets towards the river and every now and then, he would catch a glimpse of some poor person who happened to be outside during the torrential downpour. **

**Shaking his head, he tried and failed to tear his eyes from the scene outside. It had been a long time since the streets had been dry and the sun shone down on the beautiful village. It felt like an age since he had last been outside and felt the warmth of the sun. In his opinion, it had been raining since the day she left the village, literally and figuratively. Since Sakura left, it felt like the sunshine had gone from his life leaving everything in black and white and him with a growing feeling of melancholy. They had grown close over the years and he had come to see the 22 year old kunoichi as a friend he could rely on in his times of need. And yet… now in his time of dire need, she was nowhere to be found and felt as though he were drowning in the loneliness that now consumed him. **

**Every so often he would receive one of her infrequent letters and would smile briefly at the contents of it and glance at the pictures that were usually enclosed. He was not the only one who received letters from her, but he counted himself lucky that he was one of the few who did. Once she had sent him a picture of her and Temari smiling as they stood beside Gaara and Kankuro as they opened the new hospital in Suna. Her smiling face had literally taken his breath away and it was then that he realised that he was looking at pictures of her from a different life, one that he was not part of. Kakashi would put the pictures aside in the drawer where he kept ever letter and picture she sent him. When loneliness became unbearable, he would look through them and chuckle slightly at the humorous stories she wrote about and shed a tear quietly when he remembered why she was so far away and not here with him where he wanted her. **

**Kakashi had never been open about his feelings for her while she was in Konoha. In all honesty, he probably didn't even know they were there until she left. Her departure had hit him hard and he cursed himself for not realising his feelings sooner. He wanted to have been with her before she left, be the person she thought about the most. He wanted to run his fingers through her hair just to feel its softness. Dreams of her smiling happily at him and running towards him, wrapping her arms around him when they met plagued him. The very thought of her soft lips made him curse his inability to recognise emotions.**

**Then the news came in the most recent letter. The news he had been dreading but had known would inevitably come. Sakura had been in Suna for nearly a year and there was no sign of her time there ending any time soon. She had become close to the Kazekage, working with him nearly every day. Eventually the stoic male had asked her out and she had accepted. Kakashi's heart broke a little more with each sentence of the letter he read. After a while, unable to continue, he slammed the letter down on his desk with a shaking fist. He wanted to be the one who held her at night and tell her he loved her at every opportunity. **

**He groaned as he threw the letter into the drawer with the others, not looking at the pictures she had enclosed. Shaking his head, Kakashi made his way towards the refrigerator. The only thing to numb the pain was sake. No other woman could take her place; she was one of a kind. As the thought dawned him, he realised he would probably end up waiting for her, praying with each letter that came to hear the news that her new romance was over. **

**Sighing, he set down his cup and picked up the pictures he had previously discarded and with a heavy heart began looking through them. Sakura's smiling face looked up at him from every picture and he grimaced as he saw Gaara standing beside her in nearly every one of them, his arms wrapped possessively around her. As he looked at the last picture he knew in no uncertain terms that he loved her and always would. Always. **

"_**I'll be there till the stars don't shine, **_

_**Till the heavens burst and the words don't rhyme,**_

_**And I know when I die you'll be on my mind**_

_**And I'll love you always."**_

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**AN:**** It turned out to be a it longer than I intended. Inspired by Bon Jovi's "Always." Apologies for any spelling mistakes, hope you enjoy!^_^**


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